10 years ago - 16-year-old Wally is invited to join Raven's new Teen Titans. Clifford Devoe stages a crimewave in Central City using his mind control technology, looking to permanently upload his consciousness into his computers. He falls into a coma when he is stopped by Wally & Barry Allen. When Albert Desmond is overwhelmed by the philosopher's stone and again becomes Doctor Alchemy, Wally & Barry use Desmond's formula to destroy it & free him. Evan McCulloch arrives as the new Mirror Master, confronting Barry & Wally.

6 years ago - 20-year-old Wally refuses to grant Hunter Zolomon powers after he is injured in Gorilla Grodd's escape. Hunter tries to use Eobard Thawne's cosmic treadmill, resulting in a temporal explosion that uncouples him from time. He tries to make Wally suffer to force him to be a better hero, but Wally manages to freeze him in his own time loop. Clifford Devoe's digital avatar achieves consciousness, and begins taking over systems in Central City. He is able to awaken his own body, and is suddenly slowed by his own weakened neurochemistry, allowing Wally to disconnect him. Hartley Rathaway's first symphony is played by the Keystone Symphony Orchestra. He comes out publicly as a former Rogue.

The Flash is a benchmark, tent pole DC Character. The big three are definitely Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, but the Flash is easily number four, and arguably is even more widely known and understood because he has such a simple, pure concept. This character is fast. Done. Never mind that the character of the Flash has one of the greatest ongoing legacies in comics, that by exploring the myriad applications of his single power he unlocks a gigantic toolbox of powers, and that he's almost single-handedly responsible for the seat-of-your pants sci-fi whimsy that permeates the fabric of DC. He's a remarkably important character.

Recent comics have featured the return of the original silver-age Flash, Barry Allen. This might be a controversial change, but we've chosen to remove Barry Allen's return and keep Wally West, one of best superheroes ever, as our Flash.

Wally West's Comic History

Of the many kid sidekicks in the silver age of DC Comics, Wally West is easily the one that followed most closely in his mentor's footsteps. The original Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen, had a lot of time travel and reality-jumping in his stories. When the entire DC Universe was rewritten in the original Crisis, the death of Barry Allen was one of the true defining moments in the history of DC. Wally became the very first sidekick to actually step up and take over the role of his mentor's role.

And BOY did he own it. Wally was the Flash during two of the greatest runs the character has ever had; written my Mark Waid & Geoff Johns. He was depicted as having greater mastery over the speed force than any speedster in history thanks to his experience using it.

Barry Allen returned during the Final Crisis in 2008 thanks to editorial decree by DC President Dan Didio, and Wally essentially became a casualty of the New 52. Multiple attempts to bring him back have happened, but we've never really seen the classic Mark Waid Wally again.

The Case for Wally West

So why use Wally West as the Flash instead of Barry Allen? Wally West's tenure as Kid Flash lasted 26 years in real time, from his introduction in 1959 to taking over as the Flash in the pages of Infinite Crisis in 1985. He then served as the Flash for a further 23 years, until the return of Barry Allen in the pages of Final Crisis, with barely a year off when Bart Allen took over as the Flash after Infinite Crisis in 2006. During that time, he was a part of two of the greatest superhero teams in comics history: the Marv Wolfman/George Perez Teen Titans and the Grant Morrison/Howard Porter Justice League. ​​Virtually all the ideas that make the character of the Flash who he is are taken from Wally West's career. Meanwhile, Barry Allen was the Flash for a slightly longer time, 29 years from his 1956 debut to his death in 1985, but a huge preponderance of that time was spent in a milieu of pre-crisis ridiculousness. Barry was a part of the Satellite Era Justice League, which gives him a strong sense of place and purpose, but his death is also an extremely important part of the history of that team and of the DC universe in general.

​Ultimately, it's about understanding what stories serve the larger tapestry of DC the best. Barry's death is huge, and Wally's stepping into the role of the Flash and making it his own is a facet of the DC timeline whose importance can't be overstated. In a whole world of legacy characters, Wally was the first and the most successful. To properly tell the story of the Flash, Wally needs to be the man in the costume.

Our Wally West Story

The thing that makes the story of Flash (any Flash) complicated is the preponderance of dimension hopping and time travel. Most of the multiverse weirdness of DC that makes it impossible for newcomers to read all started in the pages of the Flash. In fact, it's part of the fun of the current Flash TV series; it's leaning heavily on the wackadoodle Silver Age sci-fi fudgery.

So; step one to crafting our version of Wally West's Flash is to strip as much of that away as possible. We're leaning much more heavily on Mark Waid's genius run with the character. One of the best things he did was to take the Barry's completely nonsensical rogues gallery and craft them into the Rogues, a organized group of legitimately dangerous enemies. ​Suddenly, Wally has a very well-defined measuring stick where we can see exactly how successful he is at taking over the role of his mentor and making it his own.

Another change to Wally's story is to make the transition between his career as Kid Flash and his Mark Waid-inspired Flash career happen much sooner. The comics featured a protracted period of depression, and then a role as a rich playboy before he found his footing as the blue-collar hero he is today. Wally studies criminology, but it serves him primarily in his role as the Flash.

Wally West's Costume

The Flash probably stands out among superheroes by having perhaps the single most unchanged costume in his entire history. There have been practically no changes at all, other than small flourishes from artist to artist. In fact, when Wally first became Barry's sidekick his original costume wasn't the yellow hair-revealing suit we now think of as Kid Flash, but an exact replica of Barry's red costume. That's how iconic the look is.

Generally speaking, Wally and Barry's costumes have three features that differentiate them. first there's the shading; Wally's suit is generally a darker red with more pronounced blacks. Second is the lighting belt. Barry's belt was a single lighting bolt that went across his waist while Wally's features two bolts that met in the middle. Third, Wally's mask was often (but not always) drawn with white pupil-less eyes, suggesting that the costume had lenses. Which it absolutely should. A lot of the qualities of the Flash's costume have been applied to Barry Allen's post-Flashpoint costume now that he's back in the role, but Wally did them first. Similarly, the visual of lightning bolts arcing away from the yellow in his costume is a regular way to show the speed force effect when the Flash is running originated with Wally.

I should add... there are some variations of the character where he (and his sister Iris) are African American? That's fine. As long as he has the personality I recognize, you can draw him with whatever ethnicity you want.

Wally West's Future

According to our timeline, Wally's current status is as a member of the new Watchtower team. While several members of the original Watchtower team have gone into space to save Superman, Wally stayed on Earth specifically because he and his wife Linda are expecting a baby... and of course when his very good friend Dick Grayson creates a new team, he is one of the first people who answer his call.

As we move into his future one of the most important new story developments will be the birth of his daughter, Iris. In the comic Wally and Linda have twins, they are all sucked into the speed force, and then return having aged 8 years. We won't be using all of that, but we do like that at some point young Iris will grow up and take up Bart Allen's old heroic identity Impulse. ​In the meantime, Wally stands out as one of the only classic sidekicks to really step up and take over the role and make it his own. At this point he's one of the most skillful, experiences, and powerful superheroes in the game.